Before&After BAmagazne.com How to fnd the fec t per color Gettng that just-rght color s part art, part scence. We ll show you. Contnued Contnued Perfect color 0453
Before&After BAmagazne.com How to fnd the perfect color Hdden n your photo s the color palette you need. Here s how to get t out. No sngle vsual element has more effect on a vewer than color. Color gets attenton, sets a mood, sends a message. But what colors are the rght ones? The key s that color s relatonal. Colors don t exst n a vacuum but are always seen wth other colors. Because of ths, you can desgn a colorcoordnated document based on the colors n any element on the page. Here s how. Here s the stuaton: We have an academc schedule for a women s college to desgn, and for a photo we have ths no-nonsense, freckle-faced model. The goal s to look fresh, alve and personal (no buldngs and grounds shots) whle conveyng the sense that the program s serous and busnesslke. A note of trendness wll be good. Color s nvolved n all of t. 2 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 3 of 16 BAmagazne.com Look close, closer, closest Every photo has a natural color palette. Frst step s to fnd t and organze t. Zoom n on your photo, and you ll be astonshed by how many colors you see. At normal vewng dstance (left) we see a few dozen colors: skn tones, red har, blue eyes, blue jacket, but zoom closer, and we see mllons! Frst step s to reduce all those colors to a manageable few; you want 16, 32, 64 tops. In Photoshop, frst duplcate the photo layer (so you don t lose the orgnal), then select Flter> Pxelate> Mosac (rght). A large Cell Sze gves you very few colors; f you need more, reduce the sze. 3 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 4 of 16 BAmagazne.com Pull out the colors Now extract colors wth the eyedropper tool. Work from the bggest color (the one you see most of) to the smallest. For contrast, pck up dark, medum and lght pxels of each. Work frst on the bg colors. These are the ones you see at a glance; her skn and har colors and blue jacket. Then do the small colors her eyes, lps, the hghlghts n her har and soft shadows. You can see n ths mage a lght sde and a shadow sde; t s subtle, but pay attenton. Fnsh each area before movng on. Sort your results by color, then each color by value (lght to dark). Dscard lookalkes. You ll be thrlled by what you fnd. Lght sde Shadow sde Har Face Har Jacket 4 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 5 of 16 BAmagazne.com Try each one on Place the photo on a swatch of each color. The results are pretty, aren t they? What s fun s that ths wll always look good, because the colors you re usng are already there. Warm colors These are the warm colors pnks, salmons, sepas, browns of the red-hared model. The warmer colors make her look softer and more femnne. These colors would be good for a cosmetc message or a carng message. Cool colors The cool colors blues, manly make for a more serous, busnesslke relatonshp and convey a drect, to-the-pont message. Note that as the values get darker, her face gets perceptually brghter and appears to rse off the page toward you. 5 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 6 of 16 BAmagazne.com Add to the colors The next step s to add more colors. Select any of the colors, and locate t on the color wheel. The purpose of a color wheel s to show you a color s relatonshp to other colors. Pck any of the photo s colors let s use ths blue and fnd ts general vcnty* on the color wheel. We ll call ths the base color. We already know that the base color goes wth the photo. Our job now s to fnd colors that go wth the base color. Keep n mnd that f type or other graphcs are nvolved (pretty typcal), you ll need both dark and lght colors for contrast. *Because the wheel s delberately basc, you wll rarely make an exact match. It s only a gude. 6 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 7 of 16 BAmagazne.com Create color palettes From your base color, you can now create an exctng range of coordnated color palettes. Values can mx. For example, medum blue works wth lght teal and dark volet. Monochromatc Frst are the dark, medum and lght values of the base color. Ths s a monochromatc palette. It has no color depth, but t provdes the contrast of dark, medum and lght that s so mportant to good desgn. Analogous One color step ether sde of the base color are ts analogous colors. Analogous colors share undertones (here, bluegreen, blue, and blue-volet), whch create beautful, low-contrast harmony. Analogous palettes are rch and always easy to work wth. 7 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 8 of 16 BAmagazne.com Complement Drectly opposte the base color s ts complement n ths case, the orange range. What the complement brngs s contrast. A color and ts complement convey energy, vgor and exctement. Typcally, the complement s used n a smaller amount as an accent; a spot of orange on a blue feld, as shown above. Splt complement One step ether way are the complement s own analogous colors. Ths palette s called a splt complement. Its strength s n the low-contrast beauty of analogous colors, plus the added punctuaton of an opposte color. In ths case, the blue would most lkely be used as the accent. 8 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 9 of 16 BAmagazne.com Complement/analogous Ths mxed palette s the same as the splt complement but wth more color. Its added range yelds soft, rch harmony on the warm sde and sharp, cy contrast on the cold sde, an ntense and exctng combnaton. Analogous/complement Colors analogous to our base color make cool harmony punctuated by a hot spot of complementary color. Keep n mnd that oppostes of the same value tend to fght but complement when dfferent (below). Ths s why you want to eyedropper dark, medum and lght values of each color. Opposte colors, same value Opposte colors, dfferent values 9 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 10 of 16 BAmagazne.com Edt and apply Desgn the page, and now t s tme to make color choces. How to pck? The key s to thnk message. Wegh each aganst the orgnal purpose by askng, whch colors meet the goal?* school of busness admnstraton All busness Blue s every one s favorte color. What s nterestng here s that blue and orange are natve to the photo, gvng t excellent natural contrast. The blue background swallows her jacket, allowng her ntense gaze to lft rght off the page. Handsome and busnesslke. *Revew the desgn goal on page 2 10 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 11 of 16 BAmagazne.com school of busness admnstraton Serous Ths palette began n the deep red of her har, and for an accent took two steps toward yellow. Her eyes and jacket, whch on blue receded nto the background, now stand n contrast. Note that the red n her har s a mere hghlght, but fllng the page t acqures real weght. Serous, warm, draws the reader n. 11 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 12 of 16 BAmagazne.com school of busness admnstraton Intense The hghlghts n her har carry ths page; the blue accent lends contrast and depth. An unexpected pont of nterest s the yellow headlne, whch seems cut out of the photo. Dmensonally flat, ths mx s ntense and engagng (and would wn the desgn contest), but t takes a darng clent to choose t. 12 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 13 of 16 BAmagazne.com school of busness admnstraton Casual Analogous to the blue a step toward green s teal, a beautful color not n the photo. Its dfference adds depth and vbrancy and relaxes the message somewhat; t s trender now, more approachable. Her eyes, whch aganst blue looked blue, now look green. Type color, stll lght orange, s a soft contrast. Remnder: Values mx. You can always use dark, medum and lght of any color. Note here both medum and lght teal. 13 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 14 of 16 BAmagazne.com school of busness admnstraton Pretty One step the other way s blue-volet, another color not n the photo. Blue-volet s a shft toward red; the result s a slghtly flatter mage, because face, har and background are now more alke. Blue-volet s a cool color normally assocated wth softness, femnnty, and sprngtme (wth undertones of freshness). 14 of 16 Perfect color 0453
Before&After Perfect color 15 of 16 BAmagazne.com Artcle resources Typefaces Colors 3 1a 2 1b FALL SCHEDLE SCHOOL OF BSINESS ADMINISTRATION 4 5 FALL SCHEDLE SCHOOL OF BSINESS ADMINISTRATION 8 5 7 9 1 (a b) Trajan Bold a) 36 pt, b) 8 pt 2 Trajan Regular 18 pt Images 3 Rubberball.com 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C0 M40 Y60 K0 C100 M60 Y0 K45 C0 M40 Y100 K0 C0 M90 Y80 K45 C0 M25 Y60 K0 C60 M0 Y20 K15 C30 M0 Y12 K0 FALL SCHEDLE SCHOOL OF BSINESS ADMINISTRATION 4 10 11 11 12 C100 M90 Y0 K25 C60 M50 Y0 K15 FALL SCHEDLE SCHOOL OF BSINESS ADMINISTRATION 6 7 FALL SCHEDLE SCHOOL OF BSINESS ADMINISTRATION 4 12 15 of 16 Perfect color 0453
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Before&After Perfect color 16 of 16 BAmagazne.com Subscrbe to Before & After Subscrbe to Before & After, and become a more capable, confdent desgner for pennes per artcle. To learn more, go to http://www.bamagazne.com/subscrbe E-mal ths artcle To pass along a free copy of ths artcle to others, clck here. Jon our e-lst To be notfed by e-mal of new artcles as they become avalable, go to http://www.bamagazne.com/emal Before & After magazne Before & After has been sharng ts practcal approach to graphc desgn snce 1990. Because our modern world has made desgners of us all (ready or not), Before & After s dedcated to makng graphc desgn understandable, useful and even fun for everyone. John McWade Publsher and creatve drector Gaye McWade Assocate publsher Vncent Pascual Senor desgner Dexter Mark Abellera Senor desgner Edtoral board Gwen Amos, Carl Wnther Before & After magazne 323 Lncoln Street, Rosevlle, CA 95678 Telephone 916-784-3880 Fax 916-784-3995 E-mal malbox@bamagazne.com www http://www.bamagazne.com Copyrght 2005 Before & After magazne ISSN 1049-0035. All rghts reserved You may pass along a free copy of ths artcle to others by clckng here. You may not alter ths artcle, and you may not charge for t. You may quote bref sectons for revew; please credt Before & After magazne, and let us know. To lnk Before & After magazne to your Web ste, use ths RL: http://www.bamagazne.com. For all other permssons, please contact us. 16 of 16 Prntng formats Perfect color 0453
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How to fnd the fec t per color Gettng that just-rght color s part art, part scence. We ll show you. No sngle vsual element has more effect on a vewer than color. Color gets attenton, sets a mood, sends a message. But what colors are the rght ones? The key s that color s relatonal. Colors don t exst n a vacuum but are always seen wth other colors. Because of ths, you can desgn a colorcoordnated document based on the colors n any element on the page. Here s how. Here s the stuaton: We have an academc schedule for a women s college to desgn, and for a photo we have ths no-nonsense, freckle-faced model. The goal s to look fresh, alve and personal (no buldngs and grounds shots) whle conveyng the sense that the program s serous and busnesslke. A note of trendness wll be good. Color s nvolved n all of t. 0453 How to fnd perfect color Before&After www.bamagazne.com 1 of 8 How to fnd perfect color 0453
Look close, closer, closest Every photo has a natural color palette. Frst step s to fnd t and organze t. Zoom n on your photo, and you ll be astonshed by how many colors you see. At normal vewng dstance (left) we see a few dozen colors: skn tones, red har, blue eyes, blue jacket, but zoom closer, and we see mllons! Frst step s to reduce all those colors to a manageable few; you want 16, 32, 64 tops. In Photoshop, frst duplcate the photo layer (so you don t lose the orgnal), then select Flter> Pxelate> Mosac (rght). A large Cell Sze gves you very few colors; f you need more, reduce the sze. Pull out the colors Now extract colors wth the eyedropper tool. Work from the bggest color (the one you see most of) to the smallest. For contrast, pck up dark, medum and lght pxels of each. Work frst on the bg colors. These are the ones you see at a glance; her skn and har colors and blue jacket. Then do the small colors her eyes, lps, the hghlghts n her har and soft shadows. You can see n ths mage a lght sde and a shadow sde; t s subtle, but pay attenton. Fnsh each area before movng on. Sort your results by color, then each color by value (lght to dark). Dscard lookalkes. You ll be thrlled by what you fnd. Lght sde Shadow sde Har Face Har Jacket 0453 How to fnd perfect color Before&After www.bamagazne.com 2 of 8 How to fnd perfect color 0453
Try each one on Place the photo on a swatch of each color. The results are pretty, aren t they? What s fun s that ths wll always look good, because the colors you re usng are already there. Warm colors These are the warm colors pnks, salmons, sepas, browns of the red-hared model. The warmer colors make her look softer and more femnne. These colors would be good for a cosmetc message or a carng message. Cool colors The cool colors blues, manly make for a more serous, busnesslke relatonshp and convey a drect, to-the-pont message. Note that as the values get darker, her face gets perceptually brghter and appears to rse off the page toward you. Add to the colors The next step s to add more colors. Select any of the colors, and locate t on the color wheel. The purpose of a color wheel s to show you a color s relatonshp to other colors. Pck any of the photo s colors let s use ths blue and fnd ts general vcnty* on the color wheel. We ll call ths the base color. We already know that the base color goes wth the photo. Our job now s to fnd colors that go wth the base color. Keep n mnd that f type or other graphc s nvolved (pretty typcal), you ll need both dark and lght colors for contrast. *Because the wheel s delberately basc, you wll rarely make an exact match. It s only a gude. 0453 How to fnd perfect color Before&After www.bamagazne.com How to fnd perfect color 0453 3 of 8
Create color palettes From your base color, you can now create an exctng range of coordnated color palettes. Values can mx. For example, medum blue works wth lght teal and dark volet. Monochromatc Frst are the dark, medum and lght values of the base color. Ths s a monochromatc palette. It has no color depth, but t provdes the contrast of dark, medum and lght that s so mportant to good desgn. Analogous One color step ether sde of the base color are ts analogous colors. Analogous colors share undertones (here, bluegreen, blue, and blue-volet), whch create beautful, low-contrast harmony. Analogous palettes are rch and always easy to work wth. Complement Drectly opposte the base color s ts complement n ths case, the orange range. What the complement brngs s contrast. A color and ts complement convey energy, vgor and exctement. Typcally, the complement s used n a smaller amount as an accent; a spot of orange on a blue feld, as shown above. Splt complement One step ether way are the complement s own analogous colors. Ths palette s called a splt complement. Its strength s n the low-contrast beauty of analogous colors, plus the added punctuaton of an opposte color. In ths case, the blue would most lkely be used as the accent. 0453 How to fnd perfect color Before&After www.bamagazne.com 4 of 8 How to fnd perfect color 0453
Complement/analogous Ths mxed palette s the same as the splt complement but wth more color. Its added range yelds soft, rch harmony on the warm sde and sharp, cy contrast on the cold sde, an ntense and exctng combnaton. Analogous/complement Colors analogous to our base color make cool harmony punctuated by a hot spot of complementary color. Keep n mnd that oppostes of the same value tend to fght but complement when dfferent (below). Ths s why you want to eyedropper dark, medum and lght values of each color. Opposte colors, same value Opposte colors, dfferent values Edt and apply Desgn the page, and now t s tme to make color choces. How to pck? The key s to thnk message. Wegh each aganst the orgnal purpose by askng, whch colors meet the goal?* school of busness admnstraton All busness Blue s every one s favorte color. What s nterestng here s that blue and orange are natve to the photo, gvng t excellent natural contrast. The blue background swallows her jacket, allowng her ntense gaze to lft rght off the page. Handsome and busnesslke. *Revew the desgn goal on page 1 0453 How to fnd perfect color Before&After www.bamagazne.com 5 of 8 How to fnd perfect color 0453
school of busness admnstraton Serous Ths palette began n the deep red of her har, and for an accent took two steps toward yellow. Her eyes and jacket, whch on blue receded nto the background, now stand n contrast. Note that the red n her har s a mere hghlght, but fllng the page t acqures real weght. Serous, warm, draws the reader n. school of busness admnstraton Intense The hghlghts n her har carry ths page; the blue accent lends contrast and depth. An unexpected pont of nterest s the yellow headlne, whch seems cut out of the photo. Dmensonally flat, ths mx s ntense and engagng (and would wn the desgn contest), but t takes a darng clent to choose t. 0453 How to fnd perfect color Before&After www.bamagazne.com 6 of 8 How to fnd perfect color 0453
school of busness admnstraton Casual Analogous to the blue a step toward green s teal, a beautful color not n the photo. Its dfference adds depth and vbrancy and relaxes the message somewhat; t s trender now, more approachable. Her eyes, whch aganst blue looked blue, now look green. Type color, stll lght orange, s a soft contrast. Remnder: Values mx. You can always use dark, medum and lght of any color. Note here both medum and lght teal. school of busness admnstraton Pretty One step the other way s blue-volet, another color not n the photo. Blue-volet s a shft toward red; the result s a slghtly flatter mage, because face, har and background are now more alke. Blue-volet s a cool color normally assocated wth softness, femnnty, and sprngtme (wth undertones of freshness). 0453 How to fnd perfect color Before&After www.bamagazne.com 7 of 8 How to fnd perfect color 0453
Artcle resources 3 1a 2 1b school of busness admnstraton 4 5 school of busness admnstraton 8 5 7 9 Typefaces 1 (a b) Trajan Bold a) 36 pt, b) 8 pt 2 Trajan Regular 18 pt Images 3 Rubberball.com Colors 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C0 M40 Y60 K0 C100 M60 Y0 K45 C0 M40 Y100 K0 C0 M90 Y80 K45 C0 M25 Y60 K0 C60 M0 Y20 K15 C30 M0 Y12 K0 school of busness admnstraton 4 10 11 11 12 C100 M90 Y0 K25 C60 M50 Y0 K15 school of busness admnstraton 6 7 school of busness admnstraton 4 12 Subscrbe to Before & After Dd you enjoy ths artcle? Subscrbe, and become a more capable, confdent desgner for pennes per artcle. To learn more, go to http://www.bamagazne.com/subscrbe E-mal ths artcle To pass along a free copy of ths artcle to others, clck here. Jon our e-lst To be notfed by e-mal of new artcles as they become avalable, go to http://www.bamagazne.com/emal Before & After magazne Before & After has been sharng ts practcal approach to graphc desgn snce 1990. Because our modern world has made desgners of us all (ready or not), Before & After s dedcated to makng graphc desgn understandable, useful and even fun for everyone. John McWade Publsher and creatve drector Gaye McWade Assocate publsher Vncent Pascual Senor desgner Dexter Mark Abellera Senor desgner Edtoral board Gwen Amos, Carl Wnther Before & After magazne 323 Lncoln Street, Rosevlle, CA 95678 Telephone 916-784-3880 Fax 916-784-3995 E-mal malbox@bamagazne.com www http://www.bamagazne.com Copyrght 2005 Before & After magazne, ISSN 1049-0035. All rghts reserved You may pass ths artcle around, but you may not alter t, and you may not charge for t. You may quote bref sectons for revew. If you do ths, please credt Before & After magazne, and let us know. To feature free Before & After artcles on your Web ste, please contact us. For permsson to nclude all or part of ths artcle n another work, please contact us. 0453 How to fnd perfect color Before&After www.bamagazne.com 8 of 8 How to fnd perfect color 0453